Car Audio In-Dash Cassette Players

Cranking Up the Tunes with a Vintage Car Cassette Player

A vintage cassette player can be the perfect detail to make your older vehicle into a cruiser's dream. Before the introduction of CDs, cassette tapes were the way to enjoy your own music while out on the road. Reinstalling a tape deck appropriate to your vehicle's age and model will give you a way to enjoy your old tapes, and it's also a great way to give a newer vehicle a retro vibe.

Choosing the right cassette player for your car depends on why you want it in the first place. If you are replacing an old one that's no longer working, you want to find a new player of the same model thats vintage. If you are trying to give your car a retro look, you may prefer a different style.

Most car cassette players you find on eBay are part of an integrated audio system that includes at least an AM/FM radio. Because they are vintage, many eBay options are used car cassette players. The radio will likely have certain features like preset buttons, seek, and an AM/FM switch. The cassette player may have other feature, too, including:

• Eject button:This is necessary for removing tapes from deck.
• Side button:This allows you to switch to the other side of the cassette without removing and flipping it manually.
• Balance:The feature gives you the option to balance the speaker output by side.
• Base and treble:Use this setting to adjust the quality of the music output.

You can install a vintage cassette tape player into any vehicle. You would need to wire it for electricity and connect it to speakers, of course. The problem, however, lies in where you install it. Most audio components are made to fit into specific-sized openings in the vehicle's dash. You may find that the openings for audio components don't fit with older cassette players. You have a few options for installation, including:

• Under the dash:Install the cassette player beneath the dash using brackets.
• Custom cover:Get a custom cover made for the opening, so the player looks built-in. This works if the player is too small for the current openings.
• Cut a space:Cut a larger opening in the dash. This is an option for a player that's too big, but it should be done by a professional.